AeroAstro Annual 8

AeroAstro Annual 8

Annual Report 2010-2011

29 AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY: Novel Tools and Routing Algorithms’ Impacts Range from Daily Commutes to Space Travel AeroAstro faculty and students are pursuing these objectives, not only in the aerospace domain, but also in automotive applications and robotic systems. AIRCRAFT CONTROL Developing ways to control agile, highly maneuverable aircraft is one of AeroAstro’s prime research areas. Using the unique capabilities of the RAVEN (Real-time indoor Autonomous Vehicle test ENvironment) indoor flight testbed, the Aerospace Computational Design Lab is tackling challenging mobility problems for autonomous aircraft. For example, real-time optimization techniques were used to enhance aerial combat decision making in an effort to advance the capabilities of UAVs in a one-on-one “dogfight” with other aircraft. Simula- tion results showed a significant 19% improvement over the current state-of-the-art for the problem formulation considered. RAVEN test flights demonstrated the real-time capability of these techniques with two radio-controlled aircraft. AUTONOMOUS MOBILITY Novel Tools and Routing Algorithms’ Impacts Range from Daily Commutes to Space Travel By Emilio Frazzoli, Jonathan P. How, Nick Roy, Russ Tedrake, and Brian Williams A central Aeronautics and Astronautics Department research theme is develop- ment of methods that enable vehicles to move faster, farther, and with better maneuverability, while ensuring safety and minimizing envi- ronmental impact.